The financial sector plays an important role in the development of the economy, particularly in developing countries such as India. However, a large portion of India's rural population is financially excluded, including farmers, laborers, tribal people, women, and others. When a similar situation arose in India's north-eastern region, where mainstream regulated entities refused to accept women as customers, Rupali started providing financial assistance for livelihood generation through RGVN-CSP. She and her team educated them on finance through financial literacy, assisted them with skill development and technical assistance, and prepared them with credit assistance, and thus the NBFC growth journey began.

Rupali is a seasoned development banker with over 33 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry. During her tenure as a Senior Manager at Langpi Dehangi Rural Bank, she gained 20 years of expertise in retail banking. Currently functioning as the Managing Director & CEO for North East Small Finance Bank (NESFB), she has been instrumental in promoting the Bank through which she made a local organization from Assam reach a nationally recognizable level. She is also the mastermind behind successfully turning around the operations of a loss-making RGVN-CSP into a profitable NBFC (RGVN MFL) within two years and then obtaining the RBI license for promoting North East Small Finance Bank within 10 years (FY 2005-06 till FY 2015-16).

Rupali has been working for the financial empowerment of underprivileged women in the rural and urban sectors through financial intermediation, enabling them to gain confidence and become successful entrepreneurs. Behind all of her accomplishments is a commitment to do something that will make a big difference in the lives of the rural people of India.

In an in-depth conversation with the Women Entrepreneur magazine team, Rupali speaks to us about her illustrious professional journey and the change she wishes to bring about through her work.

Introduce us to North East Small Finance Bank.

The North East Small Finance Bank (NESFB) was established in 2017 after obtaining a differentiated banking license focused on financial inclusion. We operate in nine states in Eastern India, connecting 8.5 lakh consumers to mainstream banking services through a network of 219 branches in under-banked and underserved areas.

We began our journey in 1995 with a SIDBI-aided Micro-Finance project of Rashtriya Gramin Vikas Nidhi, an NGO working for assisting women clients in the generation of sustainable livelihood. In 2010, this MF program was converted to an NBFC MFI, and in 2017, it was turned into a Small Finance Bank.

When the mainstream regulated entities refused to accept them as customers, we accepted them, taught them about finance through financial literacy, assisted them through skill development and technical assistance, and prepared them with credit assistance, which we continued to increase as they grew over time. Over the years, we introduced them to micro-savings, life and medical insurance, remittances, and transactional banking. The result is the current NESFB, which has 219 branches, Rs. 1750 crore of advances, Rs. 1300 crore of deposits, and connects 8.5 lakhs people to banking services. Our loans are priced at the industry's lowest and we are proud of our assets profile which is among the industry's best.

Take us through your early educational journey and prior industry experience that you bring to the table.

I have over 37 years of experience in BFSI, with over 20 years in retail banking with Langpi Dehangi Rural Bank (Sponsored by State Bank of India). I have been trained in Micro-finance from Basix and went on to work for ASA and BRAC premier MF institutions in Bangladesh, as well as Amana Ikhtiyar in Malaysia. In 2008, I received a degree from the Boulder Institute of Micro-finance in Turin, Italy, and in 2016, I received a certificate from Harvard University on Strategic Leadership in Financial Inclusion. In 2018, I completed a leadership certification course at INSEAD in Paris.

I've spent a significant portion of my life working in retail banking, especially at a rural bank. The population in rural centers and the customer segment present a unique set of challenges that mainstream banking cannot address, and as a result, they remained credit-deficient, underbanked, and content to live in the cash economy, with little focus on financial savings and no reliance on government poverty alleviation initiatives. Though we were well aware of the situation and the problems and we needed a solution, which fortunately came in the form of microfinance.

“Nesfb currently has 219 branches,2000+ officialsconnecting 8.5 lakhs people to banking services, out of which 90% are women”

With God's grace and able guidance from my mentor's Vijay Mahajan (MD, BASIX), Deep Joshi (Executive Director, PRADAN New Delhi), and Dr. Jayanta Madhab (Retired ED, Asian Development Bank) along with Brij Mohan (Rtd. Ex Director, SIDBI), I ventured into RGVN Micro Finance Program in 2004, which was on the verge of closure due to multiple years of losses. In 2006, I turned it around and gradually built it up to address this problem, continuing to evolve and reinvent our services along our journey. In 2010, we registered the program as RGVN North East Microfinance, and in March 2017, we received a Banking License from the RBI, and North East Small Finance Bank was established on 17th October, 2017. So, as an MD & CEO for over 17 years, I've been able to build a reputable organization that continues to serve this population segment and serve as a change agent under financial inclusion.

What roles & responsibilities do you shoulder at NESFB?

I am currently the MD & CEO of NESFB, and as such, I am responsible for the bank's overall growth, systemic stability, and continued expansion of all stakeholders' returns. My focus is to keep up depositor's faith in us, increase business by linking many more customers to banking, ensure all stakeholders regulators, employees are satisfied with our performance and rule adherence, and finally, to continue to strengthen the NESFB brand to become the household level recognizable banking partner.

What are the challenges associated with your role? How do you overcome them? What significant milestones you have achieved throughout your professional journey?

Over the course of my two-decade career, I have confronted numerous challenges. From the beginning, when we were new and people were new to Microfinance as a concept, to the Andhra Pradesh MF crisis in 2010, which brought a lot of uncertainty to the sector, to demonetization in 2016- a tough time because we were primarily in cash operations ­ to finally transforming to a bank, which is a highly regulated entity at a different level of scale and Governance. We were able to overcome all obstacles by keeping each challenge simple and analyzing all aspects from all angles before arriving at a solution that would work at ground level. We were successful because we had a great consumer connection.

Our solutions were easy to implement. Though we always face the problem of retaining talent pool to competition, I am supported by a hard working, loyal workforce which had great implementation skills and thus we overcome all odds to stand here today - Stronger, bigger, and better than yesterday.

The awarding of the SFB license by RBI and transforming the NBFC into a Bank was my greatest achievement. I could carry a local organization from Assam reach a level that is nationally recognizable and credible enough for RBI to grant us a banking license.

God, the almighty, love of people, and my desire to do something which brings a significant improvement in the lives of the people of North East India is my biggest motivating factor.

What would you advise women aspiring to become business leaders and entrepreneurs?

Break free and take the road that no one else wants to take. Success isn't the icing on the cake; you have to get your hands dirty by diving right into the middle of an issue, solving it with a calm mind, and persevering in your efforts to do it over and over again. I want more women to reach the top, and to do so, I want them to take the first step, the most essential one of transforming from within her own self, and then keep going, never lose focus of why you started walking/working towards the goal in the first place.

Rupali Kalita, Managing Director & CEO, North East Small Finance Bank

Rupali Kalita is a seasoned development banker with more than 33 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry, starting her career with L.D.R Bank (RRB), presently as MD, North East Small Finance Bank, her main areas of achievement are financial inclusion and women empowerment.